The Last Leg Home

It is Saturday evening and I am going to finish off the blog of our Trans Atlantic adventure.
We arrived in Chicago just a little late, due to the train breaking down somewhere in Indiana. The train was fun, but the rocking of the cars on the route from New York to Chicago got a little old. The food on the train was much better than we thought it would be. We spent a few hours in the Metro lounge in Chicago and then back on the Southwest Chief for Kansas City. We arrived right on time and were met by our good friends Bob and Kathy, who had a cart ready for us to help with the luggage. One of the things we experienced on the trip was crossing the Mississippi river at sunset. The view was breathtaking. The people we met and dealt with at Amtrax were courteous, helpful and spoke English. We were treated better than by the airlines.
We are home and to summarize the trip; it was a great adventure, we had great time, met very nice people and made some outstanding friends. To celebrate getting home we went out for a Mexican food tonight.
We hope you have enjoyed following our trip.
Until the next adventure.
Don and Judi

Thursday on our way to Chicago / Kansas City

This morning we woke up in New York City. We went down and had breakfast in the hotel and while there met a couple from the Isle of Man. They are on a train tour of the US. They will finally end up in San Francisco in two weeks.
We took a cab to Penn Station this morning and it was a better ride than coming in from Brooklyn. The nicest Red Cap met us at the station and took these tourist under his wing and led us through the back way into the station and helped us get our luggage checked in and then took us to the Metro lounge to pick up our tickets and get settled. Everyone that we have come in contact with, in connection with Amtrax, have been friendly and helpful. This includes the people on the phones, which speak English, to the man checking our bags in.
We boarded train 49, the North Shore Limited, around 3:30 and settled into our bedroom. It is OK, but not what we remember from VIA rail. The scenery along the Hudson River is beautiful and the trees are starting to turn. The old river towns along the river are quaint.
Supper call for us was at 7:00 PM. I had what they called Flat Iron steak, brisket. It was good with mash potatoes and apple Pie ala mode for dessert. After supper it was back to the room. We were so tired that we fell asleep sitting up.
Now the rest of the story; 2 years ago we flew from Brussels to Atlanta in coach on Delta Airlines. We had 3 kids that fussed and cried the whole way. Therefore when we flew to London this time we decided to upgrade, with miles, to business class to get away from the kids. As I told you earlier, two screaming, crying little girls one row behind us. Now we get on the train and we have 3 children and an idiot behind us who are screaming at each other instead of using a normal voice. We put up with it for about 5 hours and then ‘the teacher” had a word with them and it has been peaceful ever since.

Wednesday in New York

The Going Away Party, The Crowd at Party, One of the Long Lines.

These are the pictures that I did not get on yesterday.

We arrived in New York this morning. We awoke just after passing under Verrazano’s bridge. The Lady in the harbor looked beautiful all lit up. It was about 5:00 AM when she came into sight. The sun did not come up until around 7:15 AM. We had our last breakfast on the balcony for this cruise this morning. After breakfast we packed up what was left, and asked ourselves, why did we bring so much. Because of the suite we were able to go to one of the nice lounges to wait for our turn off the boat. They had juice, coffee and sweet rolls for us. Getting off the ship went very well, there is always something that comes up, but all in all it was good. We were through customs and on the street minutes after they called our group.

The limo showed up about 30 minutes after we left the ship and we started the “journey from hell”. He told us that he was from the Dominican Republic and had been driving the limo for 6 months and that he really like New York City. We weaved, we started, we stopped, we tried to see how fast we could go in about 100 feet and then check and see if the brakes or horn were going to work. Then we tried to kill Donald by turning left in front of oncoming speeding traffic, and finally he tried to make a U-turn in front of our hotel on 57th street. Thank God he gave up on that and went around the block.
We had to use the Brooklyn tunnel because of the traffic jams caused by our great leader being in New York, along with all the other great leaders.
The hotel is typical New York hotel. We drove past the Twin Tower’s site, the fashion institute, Madison Square Garden and Penn station, which we will be leaving from tomorrow.
After getting settled we walked up to Central Park and to the Tavern on the Green. Judi bought me lunch, the bill was over $60.00, what the heck it was an adventure. We sat on a park bench for awhile and watched people, dogs, horses and bicycles parade by.
For people who like to watch other people, this is the place to be. It also helps if you do not mind if anyone speaks English or not.
We both have been to New York many times and we are tired from this long adventure, so we passed on doing much in this fine city.

Tuesday on our way to New York

It is Tuesday and we are at sea on our way to New York. The morning started out early around 4:00 AM when Judi woke me from a sound sleep to look at the Northern Lights; I am glad that she did. They were across the sky with the big dipper showing through. Later we had a lot of fun at breakfast. A couple of days ago I mentioned our California friend and our Minneapolis friend. Well we were all together again this morning and the fun and laughter was great, also the food.
We have passed about 40 miles off the coast of Boston and we can see it. Not because of the clear vision, but because of the yellow haze running out toward us. If you have not seen it is awful. The area all around us is clear, no fog, and that area of the sea has a yellow haze above it. Just think that is what those people are breathing.
Today is a sad day, as it is pack up the bags day and hope you are not over weight. We are going home with one more bag than we came with. We did not purchase much, but found out that Amtax will not accept any bags weighing more than 50 pounds. The good thing is that they will let us each bring 3 bags.
We met our good friends from LA this afternoon to say good bye. We hope we can cruise together again someday. It looks like we are coming home to cool weather and rain; they are headed to hot temperatures. I think I will take the rain, thank you.
The weather the last two days has been great. Clear to partly cloudy skies and warm temperatures. Warm enough that we had lunch on our deck this afternoon. The weather in New York is suppose to be good tomorrow and Thuday.

Monday in Halifax

Old Brewery and Pub, Massdam close aboard, Private Schooner passing lighthouse, Statue of Cunard

Halifax was different than most of our ports. The sun was shining and there were no clouds in the sky. We arrived right on schedule, but we took it slow getting started. We walked off the boat and just walked the harbor. It is set up very well for tourist. The walk allows you to see the harbor and a variety of boat and ships. We found a very nice pub, which was part of a local brewery that had been in business since the 1800s. We went up to the deck on top and had lunch. It was nice setting in the sun having lunch and a local beer.
Halifax is the largest city in Canada’s Atlantic Provinces. It was once a military and naval base used to defend the British colonies. Edward Cornwallis founded a small town here in 1749. The city is named after the Second Earl of Halifax. St. Paul’s Church, built in 1750, is the oldest Protestant church in Canada.
As we pulled out of Halifax we saw a magnificent sunset. A Canadian Destroyer followed us out, guess they wanted to make sure the Americans left. While we were docked this morning the Holland American Massdam berthed behind us. Very interesting watching from our balcony as the Captain maneuvered in behind us. They got really close.
A day at sea tomorrow and then New York City.

Sunday on our way to Halifax

Today was another sea day. We are on our way to Halifax, N.S., Canada. The Captain says that we are close to the area where the Titanic went down. Oh Boy, that is good news. The weather is cloudy, foggy and chilly, but not as chilly as it has been for the past few days.
Since all we have seen are clouds and water, there is not much to tell. However not ever being at a loss for words, here is some trivia.
Most bodies of water have names that are obvious. The majority of them are named for who discovered them, physical characteristics or the name of a place close by. There are a few that are not as easy to figure out.
Atlantic Ocean; It gets its name from either the lost kingdom of Atlantis or, more probably, from the Atlas Mountains in Northwest Africa, which the ancients believed overlooked the entire ocean.
Mediterranean; Deriving from the Latin medius, middle, and terra, earth, Mediterranean means “the sea In the middle of the earth”, which the ancients believed it to be.
Pacific Ocean; The Pacific was named by the Portuguese Navigator, Fernando de Magalhaes, better known as Magellan, on his voyage to the New World In 1520. During his time in the Atlantic he had to deal with extremes of weather, not to mention hunger and mutiny. Upon entering the new ocean he found this great body of water to be placid for many days, so he named it El Pacifico, the peaceful one. Unknown to him the Pacific Ocean covers 1/3 of the earth and is capable of terrible storms and waves unequaled in any other body of water.
There was your lesson for the day. We dock in Halifax at 8:00 AM tomorrow. They say it is going to be a sunny day. I hope we have not forgotten what the sun looks like.

Saturday at Sea on our way to St.John's / Halifax

Some more Icebergs.

You can enlarge picture by clicking on it.
Today we are at sea on our way to St. John’s, Newfoundland. We went back up to Sabatini’s and had breakfast. There were 3 couples having breakfast together. 2 from the Midwest and 1 from California. The conversation about health care was quite interesting. You can guess who was for what.
After breakfast the Captain notified us that St. John’s was not going to be a port of call for us. They have a narrow entrance into the harbor and a new low is causing problems there with the wind and waves. A sister ship did not make it in today and we are not going in tomorrow. They have scheduled us for Halifax instead. That is Ok with us as we have not been there either.
We met some members of the Cruise Critic group up in the Sky walkers lounge. The Cruise Director and the Second Officer were there. Now I know why they don’t always come to these meetings. Some of the questions and statements made by people attending are just dumb. We spent quite a bit of time trying to set up some kind of tour in Halifax for the “rowdy group”. So far not much luck, but hope they will return my e-mail tomorrow.
It has been a sea day and not much to tell you. The weather is slightly warmer but foggy. The Captain informed us that we will be passing close to where the Titanic hit an iceberg in fog. Probably did not need to hear that.
We ar on our way to Halifax, trying to stay away from the weather.
Well as Bugs use to say “That all folks”.